I've done the "big move" twice.
Here's what I did...
Set up new tank.
Every water change add water from the old tank to the new tank. If you are pressed for time I would transfer over as much of the water from the old tank to the new tank to minimize break-in time. Top up the rest with new saltwater.
Set up sump/pump/powerheads and optimize flow rates.
I added lots of micro-bacter and cycle to keep the bio filtration at optimum.
Brought the temp of the water up to match the temp of the old tank within 0.5 degrees.
Place all of the rock in the new tank and do some preliminary aquascaping.
Place the coral in the new tank and mount it.
Catch the fish and transport them in 5 gallon buckets to the new tank. Add Prime to the tank to help de-stress the fish.
Add lights.
Stir up and rinse the sand in the OLD tank daily or every few hours. Let the garbage get filtered out. Vacuum it and then transport to new tank. I put in about 1 KG of sand from the old tank to the new tank daily to minimize fogging and prevent nitrate shock. I left one powerhead in the old tank to keep the sand live in the old tank until I was ready to move all of it.
Monitor all your levels daily for the next 2 weeks.
I have nil nitrates and ammonia from day 1.
*Knock on wood*.
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